For example, a rotary connector device mounted on a vehicle body, such as an automobile, includes a rotator and a stator, these being combined so as to be rotatable relative to each other, and houses a wound flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as a flat cable) in an annular housing space formed between the rotator and the stator.
The flat cable housed in the rotary connector device is a connection connector-provided flat cable including connection connectors at both end sections thereof, and is electrically connected to a conductor of an external electronic device (hereinafter referred to as an external conductor of an external device) via a connection connector provided in the rotator and a connection connector provided in the stator.
Note that the connection connectors provided at both ends of the flat cable each include a busbar including connection terminal sections that are connected to a terminal of the external conductor and a holder that holds the busbar. The bus bar includes conductor connection sections that are electrically connected to a conductor of the flat cable, and a coupling section that couples the conductor connection sections with the connection terminal sections.
As a result of specifications being diversified in recent years, there are cases in which various external devices such as LEDs for illumination are electrically connected via the rotary connector device. In such a case, an electric circuit that energizes the conductor of the flat cable may be damaged as a result of an excessively large current (hereinafter referred to as overcurrent), which is caused by noise and the like generated in a LED circuit, for example, flowing into the electric circuit.
Thus, in a rotary connector device described in Patent Document 1, one section of a coupling section of a busbar is separated, and this section is used as an electronic component arrangement section, in which an electronic component, such as a resistance element, is arranged. The electronic component is arranged in the electronic component arrangement section, and the connection terminal section and the conductor connection section are electrically coupled with each other via the electronic component. In this way, overcurrent is prevented from flowing into the electric circuit for energizing the electronic component, and it is considered that damage to the electric circuit can be prevented.
However, depending on the handling and the specification, there are some rotary connector devices to which only external devices in which the overcurrent may not be generated are connected, and in those cases, the electronic component, such as the resistance, need not be arranged. Thus, it is necessary to prepare other connection connectors that are not provided with the electronic component arrangement section.